Therefore ENCOURAGE one another and build each other up. -1 Thess 5:11

21 Months

This is most likely my last post all about Sweet Baby James before Baby Baum #2 makes his or her arrival. I was not really planning on doing a 21 month post however, I cannot pass up the opportunity to document the sweet time we have had together before his little sibling comes a long. At this point my blog is more of a family photo/memory book than anything else. I created a book on Shutterfly of my blog from Tanzania and was so happy to be able to have a hard copy of our memories and pictures of our time there. Instead of the typical baby book or scrapbook, I plan to create a book each year for our family from this blog. It is just easier for me this way, as scrapbooks are so very time consuming for me. Maybe one day my blog will be something else but until then I am happy with it’s purpose. On to baby James…

Here are the most recent baby James happenings:

He is talking up a storm. He will repeat almost anything you say, which can be very entertaining at times. Some of my favorite sayings right now are, “pees mommy” (please mommy), “holdit” (as in pick me up and hold me), “hohoho’s coming,” (santa’s coming), “op barking,” (stop barking..directed towards the dogs when barking), “Hey Buddy!” (what he says every time he sees Austin as that is what Austin calls James) … and many more. He has a lot of expression and excitement when saying things too which makes it all the more fun. When Austin came home from work the other day, James and I were painting. James exclaimed, “I painting!” with great enthusiasm and pride.

He is a great helper. He loves to help with all things. He helps with unloading the dishwasher, particularly the silverware drawer. He helps mixing food up when I am cooking. He helps Austin fix things in the garage with a screwdriver and has had lots of fun helping with the Christmas decorations. He helps clean up spills by getting a towel and wiping it up. It is pretty fun to watch him imitate our actions and want to be such a good helper. For Thanksgiving, he was helping me make cinnamon rolls, by rolling the dough with a rolling pin. He and I were saying “roll it, roll it, roll it..” while working. A few days later in our morning cuddle time, he was saying good morning to the baby by giving my belly kisses. He then proceeded to take his blankie in a rolling pin position, rolling it on my belly and saying, “roll it, roll it.” Apparently he thinks my belly looks like a big ball of dough. Ha ha. I get it kid, I’m getting bigger.

He is getting into some trouble. He is intentionally doing things he knows he should not, and biting and hitting when frustrated. We have had to bust out the mean mommy and daddy side and time outs too. I can tell this is where the real difficulties of parenting are going to set in for me. I do not like being mean mommy and having to say no constantly but I am very aware that if we are not firm now it will become a bigger issue later.

He is very particular with certain things. When it comes to building blocks, coloring, or laying things out he has a way that he would like it to be done. He does not like help, until he needs it. I would call it more methodical than OCD, just like his daddy.

He is learning his ABC’S and 123’s. It’s pretty fun teaching him basic things like colors, numbers and letters. He is still just barely grasping the concept of most of them but he seems to be enjoying learning new things each day. He continues to love reading and is soaking up more and more vocabulary from books all of the time.

He was scared of Santa this year. Last year he had no qualms about sitting with Santa, but this year that was not the case. He was much more weary. I tried to prep him a bit with some santa videos and such but no such luck. I understand I was scared too when I was little. The result was a Santa picture with me in the middle and James looking like a deer in headlights. One for the books. Ha. He has not stopped talking about Santa since and I think if I took him back he might actually say hi on his own. Oh well.

As always, we are so thankful to be James’ parents and thankful for the joy he brings us. He is a blessing in every way. I am sure that having a sibling will be an adjustment for James and for us too, but I am confident that he will be a great big brother once he settles in to his new role.

About Me

Hi There! My name is Amy. One of my most favorite things is ENCOURAGING OTHERS. Friends, family, neighbors, strangers, everyone needs encouragement along the way. I hope this space is somewhere you can feel encouraged. A bit about me... I love to sing, run, and get energized by spending quality time with others. I am blessed with an incredible family! I love my friends who see me through the good and bad. I am so thankful for my husband Austin who loves me so well, two boys and soon to be baby girl who are such a gift. Jesus is my light who blesses me abundantly. Here is just a little picture of my everyday life.